History repeating at Alamo Plaza, despite cold weather

Members of the San Antonio Living History Association set up camp in Alamo Plaza for a battle re-enactment earlier this month. It is imperative that as much as possible of the original footprint of the Alamo be restored under a single ownership to tell the complete story of what happened here in 1836.

Dominguez works on the plaza campsite. Grant Maloney, a member of the group, said: “Fortunately for us, clothes worn in the 1830s were pretty warm.”

More Information

SAN ANTONIO — Historical re-enactors are braving the cold weather in an annual observance this weekend of the 1835 capture of San Antonio that set the stage for the famous siege and battle at the Alamo.

Several members of the group staged an encampment overnight Friday in Alamo Plaza prior to observances of the Dec. 5-9, 1835, Battle of Béxar set for Saturday in La Villita.

Grant Maloney, event coordinator and vice president of the association, said it's the first time the group has camped in Alamo Plaza.

The group got permission from the city to set up a campfire in a raised grassy area of the plaza. Although some re-enactors traveling from out of town had “chickened out” and decided to stay in hotels, others with a love of history, and perhaps some thermal underwear, planned to be among the first in modern times to camp out overnight in the historic plaza, near the glow of a towering red, white and blue Christmas tree.

“This is the first time it's been done,” Maloney said. “Fortunately for us, clothes worn in the 1830s were pretty warm.”

In the Battle of Béxar, Texian and Tejano rebels, with limited supplies and winter fast approaching, attacked the town, in what now is downtown San Antonio, and defeated the Mexican troops.

Under a surrender signed at the Cos House, a historic structure in La Villita that was the home to Mexican Gen. Martín Perfecto de Cos, the Mexican troops abandoned the old mission fortress known as the Alamo.

An enraged Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna, president of Mexico, responded by leading a campaign during a harsh winter to recapture the Alamo and quell the revolution in Texas.

De La Peña said the encampment gives visitors a chance to see the clothes, weapons and cooking styles of combatants on both sides of the Texas Revolution.

Saturday's activities from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., including re-enactments at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and a cannon demonstration at 1 p.m., seek to put the famed March 6, 1836, predawn battle of the Alamo in a historical context.

“Hopefully, these activities will raise more awareness of the history of San Antonio and the richness of the events,” De La Peña said.